Brian Kelly on Jayden Daniels' Pro Day performance: 'He left no stone unturned'
We’re down to less than four weeks before the start of the NFL Draft. And the real drama is at No. 2. Will Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye go in that second slot?
And is it even really possible for either exceptional college quarterback to do anything to edge ahead of the other in the eyes of the NFL? Both quarterbacks went through their individual pro days last week. Team reps left the NFL owners meeting in Orlando to do some final, in-person draft prep in Baton Rouge, La., then Chapel Hill, N.C.
Daniels, the former LSU star who won the Heisman Trophy last season, has hours of game video that NFL coaches can slice and dice for their draft evaluations. As LSU coach Brian Kelly said last week, there’s not much out there that isn’t known to the pros.
“You know, he’ll continue to work out, he’ll continue probably to have interviews along the way,” Kelly told reporters about his star quarterback. “But I think that, you know, the hay is out of the barn, so to speak as it relates to the evaluation process of Jayden Daniels. I think he left no stone unturned … with the performance that he had throwing the football.”
The main concern with Daniels is his slight size in comparison to other quarterbacks available in the NFL Draft. At his pro day last week, Daniels measured 6-foot-3⅝ and 210 pounds. The Washington Post reported that in the past two decades of NFL Drafts, only three quarterbacks selected in the first round have been as tall and slender. They were Teddy Bridgewater, Alex Smith and Robert Griffin III.
Scouts give Daniel huge scores for his play-making abilities. Then again, they look at Maye and take note that he has the classic NFL quarterback build. He stands 6-foot-4⅛ and 227 pounds.
The Commanders sent a large contingent to each of the pro days. Washington GM Adam Peters and assistant GM Lance Newmark traveled to Baton Rouge and Chapel Hill. So did new head coach Dan Quinn, along with his offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury. They all stood behind Daniels to better scrutinize each of his throws.
The momentum seems to be pushing Daniels ahead of Maye for the No. 2 spot. The Patriots, which select at No. 3, need a quarterback. Some quarterback-needy team also may swap spots with the Cardinals at No. 4 to draft a QB. So if Daniels or Maye miss out on No. 2, neither will drop far in this NFL Draft.
Still, with so much already known about both of them, Daniels believed it was important to reenforce his skill set when everyone was in Baton Rouge.
“The main thing was to try to show my consistency within the pocket,” Daniels told reporters. “My footwork moving off platform, [staying] in rhythm, progressions coming back to a third read. Just moving around and making sure I get my feet back under me. And the other stuff was kind of just fun.”
We’ll all know his fate, April 25, when the NFL begins the first round of the draft. But neither quarterback likely will wait long for commissioner Roger Goodell to call their names.